No, not the lottery. Those winners were in Illinois, Kansas, and Maryland. But I've got to say, I feel like a winner most every day. No, I don't have millions. But I have enough to eat three square meals a day... and then some. I live in a country where I can freely worship and speak my mind. I have a car but no car payments. I have a closet full of clothes, most of which I've purchased on sale. (Let's hear it for 50 percent off!) I live in a house, not a cardboard box. My house is on a small lake, not a small corner of a dump in a poverty stricken country. I get a paycheck, and I get paid for doing something I love: writing! I'm still healthy (well, mostly). I have a ton of fun with my family and my friends, and all on a budget. And, speaking of family, my children actually like to spend time with me. That's not worth millions. That's priceless. So, to the grand winners, congrats. I hope you do wonderful things with all that money. You can have it with my blessing. I'm already a winner. I am a very rich woman.

With two books coming out this fall and another to follow in May I have been writing up a storm. But, thanks to modern technology, there's no reason I have to write that storm at home. With Gerhardt getting a break from his college professor duties, we took off for the Washington coast. We had every imaginable kind of weather. A couple of sunny days for bike riding (I need to get a very, very, very padded seat!), a couple for going to our little ocean town's clubhouse for ping-pong, and a perfect day for staying inside to watch the movies we found at Redbox. The ocean is a great place to be during the off season. A beach walk is great in any weather, and those crashing waves make for some great pictures. So, when thinking in terms of vacation, little Sheila suggest off-season travel!